Radio: Golf director featured

July 03, 2008

The South Dakota Golf Association's oldest tournament will be played at Moccasin Creek Country Club in Aberdeen July 10-14. Defending champion Tom Carlson of Sioux Falls will return to defend his Match Play title. Carlson will be a sophomore at the University of New Mexico in the fall, where he led the Lobos with a 73.83 stroke average last season. Carlson was a four-time all-state selection in high school at O'Gorman where he was the 2002 State A champion and helped the Knights win three state team titles. One of the special events during the 2008 tourney will be induction of Roger Legge of Aberdeen into the SDGA Hall of Fame. Legge will be inducted and roasted at a public dinner July 10 (social 6:30 p.m. and dinner 7:30 p.m.) at the country club. Cost is $21; for tickets call Julie at (605) 226-0900. Ed Meisenholder of Vermillion won the first Match Play tourney in 1921. Five area men have won the title, including Aberdeen residents Legge (1996), Pat Fillbrandt (1939), Charley Howard (1933) and Syd Butts (1928). Curt Byrum of Onida won the event in 1979. Other past champions in the 2008 field along with Carlson and Legge are Sioux Falls players Paul Schock (2002) and Steve Reiter (1994). A complete list of past Match Play champions as well as Hall of Fame inductees can be found in Scoreboard on this page. Radio: Golf director featured This week's guest on the American News Sports Internet radio show is Wade Merry of Sioux Falls. Merry is the executive director of the South Dakota Golf Association. He talks about the upcoming Match Play Championship at Moccasin Creek Country Club in Aberdeen July 10-14. The “In the Huddle with John Papendick” show can be downloaded every Friday at www.aberdeennews.com. SDGA deadline nears: The deadline to enter the South Dakota Golf Association Women's Senior/Mid-Amateur Championship is Tuesday. This year's championship will be July 19-20 at Hart Ranch Golf Course in Rapid City. Entry fee is $100 and applications are available on line at sdga.org. Details: (605) 338-7499. Baseball: State amateur record falls A Dell Rapids man has broken a South Dakota amateur baseball record. Dell Rapids Mudcats pitcher Justin Siemonsma now has 31 wins in a row. The 6-foot-2, 190-pound Siemonsma was a standout athlete at Dell Rapids St. Mary's and finished up his college baseball career at Mount Marty this past spring. The old record of 30 wins in a row was held by two men. Salem pitcher Rick Weber set the record from 1986 to 1988. Redfield pitcher Lonni Stover later tied it from 2000 to 2002. Triathlon: Aberdeen athlete wins Kim Fordham-Lien won the women's overall division at the Dakotaman Triathlon and qualified for a national competition. Fordham-Lien posted a time of 1 hour, 18 minutes and 30 seconds on June 21 at the Dakotaman Triathlon which was held at Lake Alvin, which is four miles east of Harrisburg. The triathlon, which had 124 participants ranging in age from 16 to 68, included a 600-yard swim, 16 mile bike and 3 mile run. Fordham-Lien and Jason Crisp of Madison will represent South Dakota at the Best of the U.S. Triathlon Championship in Tempe, Ariz., in October. This is a repeat victory for Fordham-Lien who also qualified in 2007. The Best of the U.S. features the top male and female champions from each state. Other area place winners at the Dakotaman were Desiree Jones of Britton in the Under 19 female (1:50:21) and Craig Harrison of Aberdeen in 40-49 male (1:17:32). Athletics: Mount Marty names AD Chuck Iverson, women's basketball coach at Mount Marty College, has been promoted to a position as a full-time athletic director. He previously was the part-time athletic director in addition to his coaching duties. Effective immediately, he will begin full-time responsibilities as athletic director and a search will begin for a new women's basketball coach. “I am very honored to accept this position and anxious to help build the athletic department for the future,” Iverson said. “It was a tough decision to get out of coaching and leave that family of players.” In his 17 years as head women's coach, he was named conference coach of the year in 1999 and 2007. In those two seasons the Lancers advanced to the national NAIA basketball tournament. In eight of the last 10 years, the Lancers were rated among the top in the nation in both basketball and academics. Of the players who finished their eligibility at Mount Marty, 100 percent of them graduated during Iverson's term.